It has an operational lifetime of 12–15 years and is able to carry 38 channels, including digital TV, radio, broadband and internet.
[3] The launch of the Ekspress AM-3 spacecraft in June 2005 completed the modernization of Russia's communications satellite network.
[5] On 28 August 2008 Ekspress-AM1 switched to DVB-S2 broadcasting system and became the first DVB-S2 satellite in Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) countries.
[6] The Ekspress AM4 satellite was launched on 17 August 2011, but an anomaly with the Proton-M/Briz-M rocket left it in a useless orbit.
[9] The Ekspress-MD2 satellite was lost in a similar failure in August 2012, when the Briz-M failed at the start of its third burn.
The launch vehicle exploded 540 seconds into the flight, shortly before the end of the third-stage engine firing.